National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi will be formally charged with corruption at the end of this month.

The National Prosecuting Authority yesterday suggested in a letter to his lawyers that Selebi should appear in the Randburg regional court on January 30.

"We expect his attorney to respond to the proposed date by today [yesterday]. They could suggest a different date," said NPA spokesman Tlali Tlali.

President Thabo Mbeki suspended Selebi on Friday after the NPA informed the president it was ready to charge the country's top cop with corruption. Selebi resigned a day later as president of Interpol, the international police organisation.

Selebi's lawyer, Wynanda Coetzee, said the legal team would meet this morning to discuss the NPA's proposed court date.

"They gave us until this afternoon to respond. We will be consulting this morning. It could be either January 30 or the week after, depending on the availability of the advocates," Coetzee said.

Coetzee said she was concerned that the NPA had not yet sent the lawyers a final draft of the indictment.

"We find it very strange that till today we have not received the indictment yet," she said.

Coetzee said the indictment the state had presented at an unsuccessful urgent application Selebi launched in the Pretoria high court last Friday was a draft.

"I don't think it will change though because the investigations have been completed and no investigation has been conducted since," she said.

She said the advocates were scheduled to meet Judge President Bernard Ngoepe to discuss the date for the full bench hearing of Selebi's application.

Selebi's application as an urgent matter was set aside by the Pretoria high court. A full bench will hear his notice of motion, in which he demands details of charges against him.

But NPA acting head Mokotedi Mpshe has said the prosecutors would not wait for that application to be heard.